Guiding Light Freedom from Opinion

Author(s): Namramuni
Publisher: Namramuni

Page 5

Freedom from Opinions.....
Freedom from Opinions....
What should one do to stop one's opinions from turning into obstinacy?
You may listen to discourses and Parmatma's preaching, but if your mind is burning with restlessness, the words will not calm your mind.
First, experiment... First, conjecture... First, resolve...
Hence, first cool your heart and calm your mind.
'I will not interfere in anyone's life.'
You will not gain anything by only listening to discourses. You must implement what you have heard; only then will you succeed. When you practice what you have learnt, you will feel that you have gained something; only then will you feel and experience true sense of achievement.
To carry out this experiment, you will have to reduce your contacts with people. Gradually, reduce your circle of contacts and make it so small that it is limited only to your immediate kins.
First conjecture-"I will not express my opinion to anyone."
To stop to opine, first of all, you must realize that, "I have given my opinion, even though no one asked for it. There was no need for me to opine. The minute I express my opinion or make an assumption, I must be ready to listen to four more sentences against a single opinion of mine."
Most people have a habit... when they go to the market and see new fruits and vegetables, immediately, they will call others and inform them... "Today, I saw mangoes in the market. The first mangoes of the season... they were very expensive but nice... the vegetables were also very fresh." Now, on hearing this from you, if that person goes to the market and buys mangoes and vegetables and cuts them, who binds the sin of cutting the mangoes?
Your son is fast asleep. You wake him up and tell him that he must go and pray. He refuses and goes back to sleep...You start expressing your opinion... "You must wake up early, get ready and go to the upashray to pay homage to the ascetics." He again negates, turns away and goes back to sleep. Again, you'll try to wake him up...
"You must wake up." What happened?
You were passing by and heard two sisters-in-law arguing with each other. You immediately start forming opinions and making assumptions about their dispute. You pass this piece of information to many others. Soon after, the sisters-in-law come to an agreement, calm down and after an hour or so, even have lunch together. But you passed on the gossip about their arguments and created a thought of hatred and dislike in others' minds. Thus, you bound many more karmas than what the sisters-in-law would have bound because of their quarrel.
Your opinion became an insistence.
Your son will sleep peacefully but the restlessness in your mind will
increase
Opinions can lead to obstinacy, which results in breach of peace.
Keep reciting, "I do not want to opine about any person, object or situation and to achieve this, I need to reduce my relationship with people."